ARTICLES ABOUT INFANT MORTALITY BY DATE - PAGE 5

After a four-year period of decline, the infant mortality rate in Illinois increased slightly in 1995, according to the state Department of Public Health. Agency officials reported Friday that while the total number of births in the state declined, 1,724 infants died before they reached their first birthday last year, an increase of 13 deaths from 1994. Illinois' infant mortality rate rose to 9.3 deaths per 1,000 live births last year, compared with 9 deaths per 1,000 the year before.

Kimberley Harris and her newborn son came in from the rain showers Thursday to celebrate at a community baby shower focused equally on fun and prenatal health care. Harris honored her son Vince's 1-month birthday by taking him and his two sisters to the shower sponsored by Bethel New Life, a church-based community development organization. They celebrated with lunch, games and prizes and heard speakers on nutrition, health care and lead poisoning. Bethel's Chicago Family Case Management program hosted the shower at Amberg Hall, 1150 N. Lamon Ave., for about 25 women and their children from the Garfield Park, Austin and Humboldt Park communities.

Michigan's infant mortality rate dropped 3.5 percent in 1995, the sixth year in a row the rate declined, officials said Wednesday. The infant mortality rate in 1995 was 8.3 deaths of infants under a year old per 1,000 live births, down from the 1994 rate of 8.6 deaths per 1,000 births. Between 1992 and 1995, the rate dropped 18.6 percent. The continued decline in death rates was partly attributed to fewer deaths due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, which dropped 11.4 percent from 1994.

Last year in Chicago, 681 babies did not live to see their first birthdays. That translates into an infant-mortality rate of 12.5 percent, and Chicago's second-consecutive year at that level, according to the city's annual report on infant deaths, which was released Monday. Although 12.5 percent is the lowest rate of infant deaths since record keeping began in 1960, it remains unacceptably high, city health officials said. The most promising news is that some prevention efforts, including anti-smoking messages, appear to be having an effect.

Approximately 600 million women in the world are illiterate, twice the number of illiterate men, and women's inability to read and write may contribute to high infant-mortality rates, according to a study by the World Game Institute. The worst offenders are the countries of Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Mozambique, where men's literacy rates, although not always high, are at least triple women's, says Medard Gabel, executive director of the Philadelphia-based research organization, which seeks responsible change in global society.

It has been almost 60 years since comedian Eddie Cantor jammed up the White House's postal service by getting Americans to send a million dimes to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to aid in the fight to cure polio. The dimes poured in, often only one per envelope, and by the early 1950s, sustained efforts on the part of the March of Dimes--then known as the Infantile Paralysis Foundation--had found a vaccination for the disease. It was a lot more cumbersome, and a lot less fun, to raise a million dollars in those days.

Women in Puerto Rican neighborhoods of Chicago seem more likely to smoke during pregnancy, while black teenagers in the inner city may be less likely to get adequate prenatal care. On the other hand, Puerto Rican teenagers have the highest rates of first trimester prenatal care among all teenagers in the city. Such findings are a glimpse of the complicated mixture of factors that lead to low birth weight and high infant mortality. They suggest that as the city tries to combat one of the biggest risks to life in impoverished areas, a new approach is needed: targeted marketing, in effect.

Violent crime, infant mortality, AIDS and other urban problems have begun to recede in some of the nation's largest cities, though they are increasing in smaller cities, according to a report by a public-health research organization. The report, issued Monday by the non-profit National Public Health and Hospital Institute, was based on census information, federal crime statistics and health-care surveys from the nation's 100 largest cities. It found, among other things, that from 1980 to 1990, the number of children living in poverty increased nationally by 12 percent while in the 25 largest cities, the ranks of poor children rose by 9.4 percent.

As the holiday celebrations begin, it is tempting to forget the pressing issues facing us. But the problems remain, and some, such as infant mortality and domestic violence, may be intensified by the stress of the season. For 21 years, Chicago Catholic Women has struggled with the issues facing women and children working to improve their lives. So even as CCW celebrates the season and the accomplishments of women at their benefit Saturday, they'll take the time to remember there is still more work to be done.

The state's 1994 infant mortality rate dropped for the third consecutive year to a record low of 9 deaths for every 1,000 births, public health officials said Thursday. But Chicago's rate still was more than a dozen infant deaths for every 1,000 births, and the rate among African-American babies was nearly three times that of white babies. "We are making progress, but we must strive to do more," Gov. Jim Edgar said. "The lives of too many children are over before they reach their first birthday, often because their mothers did not receive the necessary comprehensive prenatal care."